Got a rather badly done phishing email tonight:
Best Wishes,
After viewing your profile on Minnesota Workforce, We feel you may be a
good candidate for a position within our company, and hereby invites you
for an on-line interview on Friday 1st April 04/01/2016, at 9am Your time
with Mr Andrew Clark, of the human resource department. You are hereby
advised to read more about the position details below.
Job Title: Administrative Executive,Administrative Assistant,Data
Entry,Receptionist,Customer Care Representative.
Organization:ORIGIN ENERGY
Key Responsibility: Provides services by implementing administrative
systems, procedures, and policies, and monitoring administrative projects.
Requirements: Minimum Criteria: High school Diploma/College Degree
Basic Skills: Reporting Skills, Administrative Writing Skills, Microsoft
Office Skills, Managing Processes, Organization, Analyzing Information ,
Professionalism, Problem Solving, Supply Management, Inventory
Control,Verbal Communication
If you meet the prerequisite qualifications and would like to be considered for
the position, it is expedient you follow the instructions provided below :
Make sure you have google account on your PC or tablet, if you do not have, you
can do that on-line at www.gmail.com. Then create a gmail log-in with which you
would use to gain access to google hangout. Once you have access, add Mr
Andrew Clark to your buddy list. His Screen Name with google hangout is:
andyclark.OR@gmail.com
If the stipulated time conflicts with your schedule, it is expected of you to
email Mr Andrew Clark at this Email address: andyclark.OR@gmail.com
. He will be standing by
to abreast you with the rudiments of this job position via google hangout
right away. It is expedient to get on-line ASAP. I Wish you best of Luck in
the Interview.
Sincerely,
Minnesota Recruitment Team.
From the top, "Best Wishes." They don't even know how to use a mailmerge?
If it's from a company, why would it be from "Minnesota Workforce" and not from the company? And of course if the site had sent the email, it would be from their email, and not from a Jamie Walters at Gmail (likely spoofed, of course).
You'll notice the visible emails (also almost certainly spoofed) in the HTML-formatted version are links to a whole different email address. All GMail addresses, which are not hard to acquire. Given the way the links were set up, I suppose the "hidden" email address is one Unsub has access to.
Also, it's not "Minnesota Workforce," it's Minnesota Works. The so-called English tries to use big words with which they aren't really familiar. He's "standing by to abreast you..." Seriously?
Origin Energy is an Australian energy company. An Australian company is trying to hire people who's names they don't know, in Minnesota? Yeah, right.
They basically did a cut-and-paste from found job posting somewhere. It is likely but not guaranteed that the postings weren't from Minnesota. It's a bit creepy they got my state right, but that's not the world's best-kept secret. As for the email it was sent to, it's the one I use for the podcast, also not a secret.
As for "Supply Management" and "Inventory Control" being in the job description, I suspect this is for a drop-shipping scheme. Usually on these they say "We're a foreign company, and we need someone to receive payments for us. You receive and cash the checks, send most of it to us and keep X percent." They get most of the money, and they're not accessible, so they don't get caught. Meanwhile if you fall for it, you've just fraudulently received and profited from cashing usually forged checks, etc.
The contact instructions are utterly bizarre. Probably they want to keep themselves as anonymous as possible.
It is of course conceivable that this was a legit offer, and then'd I'd be shocked and appalled. But based on the above details, I really, really doubt it.
